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Individuals of an Italian clan of burglars who took more than £1.2 million valued of goods, including from ex- NUFC striker Alexander Isak, have been ordered to return just £1 per person.

Siblings Valentino and Giacomo, their female sibling Jela Jovanovic and her child Charlie Jovanovic journeyed to the north-east of the UK to raid three houses in April 2024.

The group of four were imprisoned for from a decade or less in 2025.

At a criminal assets proceeding at Newcastle Crown Court, Jela and the Nikolov brothers were instructed to pay back £1 per person while Charlie Jovanovic must pay over a thousand pounds.

Details of the Burglaries

The court was told the group arrived by boat in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024 and used a campervan as their "base of operations", which they parked at a service area and Durham rest stops while utilizing another car to search for properties and execute burglaries.

On 31 March they stole over £1m of items including high-end fashion, purses, jewelry and a CBE medal from a residence on a street in Jesmond, while the owners were on holiday.

The next evening, the gang entered a home on a private road in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and took designer handbags, jewellery and footwear worth more than one hundred thousand pounds.

Following surveillance of the football club's facility for two days, they then acted at the home of Sweden player Mr Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on 4 April, taking £10,000 in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds worth of jewelry and the striker's one hundred twenty thousand pound luxury car.

The group, who were portrayed by prosecutors as professional touring burglars, used hand coverings and face coverings, turned their mobile devices off as they neared their targets and strapped a license plate, which had been taken from a garage in Chester-le-Street, on to their vehicle with rubber straps.

They were apprehended in the Birmingham area on 13 April.

Legal Hearings and Rulings

Valentino Nikolov had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to burglary but was convicted by jurors, while his three relations had all entered guilty pleas to the identical accusation.

At the criminal gains hearing, lawyer the prosecution said every one of the burglars had benefited from their offenses to the value of £1,266,285.93, which was based on what the victims said they had had stolen.

But Charlie was the sole individual deemed to have any funds that could be "realised", specifically £1,135.50 which had already been seized by police, the court heard, with 14 days to be served in prison if he defaulted.

The remaining members had no money or assets so were ordered to pay a token amount of £1 per person, with one week in prison the consequence if the money was not paid.

The judge Spragg said if they were found with property in the future, "such as driving around in Italy in a sports car or possessing a property", prosecutors could seek new proceedings to "recover the sum due".